A Commoner's Guide to vMA!!

rubherducky

A Disclaimer: I don’t claim to be a top tier player. I wrote this guide because two of my very close friends were struggling like crazy to clear vMA for the first time. This guide is aimed at players who have not completed it yet, and not for players looking for crazy leaderboard scores.

Why you should read my guide: I have completed vMA on every single class, and gotten on the leaderboards multiple times. I will not only offer tips for the stages, but for each class individually! I aim to explain things in a very simplistic way to make it as easy as possible.

Proof of Concept:

Let’s get started!

-PREREQUISITES-

You need to be able to pull 10k DPS minimum. It is NOT HARD. I will show you how! You also need a heart of steel to be able to withstand lots of trial and error, and an open mind to LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.

I firmly believe that ANYONE can beat vMA!

-CLASS CHOICE-


It is of my own personal opinion that the difficulty of vMA is as follows, from easiest to hardest.

Sorc>Templar>Nightblade>Dragonknight

That being said, just rolling a sorc won’t guarantee you a clear. The difficulty is around the same. When I grind for weapons, I’ll usually run it on my StamSorc or MagSorc because it requires less concentration! (Thanks surge!) Base mechanics are incredibly important. But we’ll get into that! For now, don’t worry too much about your class choice.

SORCS: Facetank the crap out of stuff. Pop lightning form and surge and get all up in the baddie’s business. Sorcs have the ability to DPS while healing, so use it to your advantage!

TEMPLARS: Jabs the crab out of everything. Make sure to group mobs tightly when you’re able to so jabs hits all of them. Repentance is freaking amazing!

NIGHTBLADES: Siphoning Attacks is great here! Make sure to be light attack weaving to get your resources back! If you’re struggling with too much incoming damage, slot Blur!

DRAGONKNIGHTS: DRAGON FIRE SCALES are your friends! I honestly have a blast running on my DK’s for this ability alone. It’s hilarious when the arrows that usually nuke a third of your health nuke the mob’s instead. Why are you hitting yourselves? --If you are stamina, then I HIGHLY suggest using vigor!


-STAM vs MAGICKA general tips-

Stam:

-Vigor is key here. I know grinding PVP sucks. Repairing walls is a drag. But if you want to make your life 10x easier, GET THIS SKILL! This is especially important for anyone that is not a stam sorc.

-USE THE ROLL DODGE! As a stamina character, you are able to roll dodge for clutch moments! Vigor>Roll Dodge is your breather combination.

-You are FAST! Use this to your advantage! I prefer running this arena on stamina characters simply because the medium armor passives. I’m like sanic

-If you are struggling, try running a 2H on your back bar for RALLY, especially if you do not have access to Vigor. For DKs and Sorcs, this also allows you a nice gapcloser for pesky stranglers and other baddies!

Magicka:

-Annulment is key here! You can use this skill to take a breather. Magicka sorcs can pass on this one, and opt for hardened ward.

-Use your RANGE to your advantage. I would strongy recommend the CRUSHING SHOCK morph for interrupting bosses. It makes the last stage about fifty times easier. BE CAREFUL using crushing shock on stage 7. More information below!

-If you are struggling, try pumping up your MAGICKA regen and then running STAMINA potions! Trust me, this helps alot if you can’t afford tripots. There is alot of running, blocking, and dodge rolling involved. Tripots are recommended for the last stage.

-If you are having a REALLY difficult time, put a resto on your back bar and run Healing Ward and Rapid Regens. Makes life so much easier! If you use a healing staff, put ANNULMENT on your FRONT bar.

GEAR:

Stam: 5 Hundings, 3 Agility, 3 Nightmothers will work JUST FINE!
Magicka: 5 Julianos, 3 Willpower, 2 Illambris/Grothddar


USE POTIONS! The cheap ones!

(CONT)

rubherducky

SIGILS:

USE THEM. JUST DO IT! If you just want to CLEAR the dang arena, there’s no reason not to. They are there to be used!

-My personal favorite is the shield one! Screw your projectiles. If you hadn’t noticed my excitement over DragonFire Scales earlier, it’s pretty much the same reason.

-Healing is great but it won’t save you from being one shot. Especially important for tough stretches if you don’t have vigor. Magicka users can pop annulment with this running and be immortal.

-Haste is AMAZING for magicka users. Kite for DAYS! The added regeneration is nice, so if you’re looking low, pick this up!

-I’ve got the POWER! Power sigil helps for high health bosses (SPIDER LADY, I’M LOOKIN’ AT YOU) when you get a moment to burst them down. They can’t hurt you if they’re dead! --probably the least important sigil--


THE STAGES
Here comes the fun part. I won’t go into too many mechanical details here-- there are already many guides out there for that. This will more focus on general tips about the bosses, assuming you already know the base mechanics.


ROUND 1
The most basic of guys. If you can beat him, you have enough DPS to complete the whole thing, so chin up! The longer you fight him the more annoying it becomes. I usually kill the first add then burn him before he can port a third time. Honestly not a bad fight at all. Keep moving around and don’t stand in the little circle he puts on the floor.
Use the POWER sigil.


ROUND 2
Use the levers whenever you have an opportunity, but don’t stress about it. Keeping vigor up as much as your stamina allows/ keeping annulment up when possible is key here. ROLL DODGE or BLOCK the heavy attacks! The blades are annoying as heck. I call this one the blender stage.
Use the HEALING sigil.


ROUND 3
What’s with Lamias and screaming? Your number one priority here is the STRANGLERS. They slow you like crazy! Stamina, shoot them with your bow/charge them. Magicka, range them down! The electric water is annoying, so only move islands when yours is full of red, or when you need to pick up a sigil.
Use the HASTE sigil.


ROUND 4
The green pool under the boss is NOT POISON! Apparently some guides out there say it is. The green pool PROTECTS you from the electric shocks! During this phase I focus the boss! After the first green pool phase, a dwarven sphere spawns. Pick up any sigils you need, burn that sphere, then DPS him to death in the second green phase.
Use the HASTE sigil.


ROUND 5
This one… is incredibly annoying until you get used to it. Number one priority is the trolls. If a platform breaks, you are screwed. I don’t care what you’re doing-- if you see one of those baddies spawn, GET ON DAT BOI. The DEFENSE sigil is key here-- use it when you’re on the second platform. Killing the ranged mobs is important, and they should go AFTER the trolls. As far as I’ve learned, the first two platforms are NOT a DPS race. Take your time killing the adds, and go at your own pace. THE LAST PLATFORM is when you should grab the power sigil and burn that lil ***!
All the sigils, basically.


ROUND 6
This round is more about having environmental awareness than anything. NEVER let a webspinner cover your Totems. EVER. Dps the boss, but keep rotating your camera for those ***. If you see a hoarver, light attack it to get it’s aggro, then run to a covered totem and kill it so you don’t have to mess with the synergy crap. The lurcher needs to die as soon as he spawns, and the mini spider will slow you. Overall she’s just got a bunch of health. If you can free the totems, then take the opportunity to catch you breath and get good DPS in.
Haste sigil!


ROUND 7
Screw this round. Stupid plants! I struggled with this for the longest time. It always messes me up when I try for Flawless. The plants sometimes spawn in your little safety bubble… so be SURE to kill the summoners ASAP, ESPECIALLY if they spawn when his scream phase begins. This round makes me salty. Seriously. FOR MAGICKA: DO NOT CRUSHING SHOCK HIM! If you enrage him you’re screwed! Just put on your DOTS and heavy attack to regen magicka. If you’re melee and too far away when he screams, just sit there and contemplate life itself and glare at the plants for me. Thanks.
Power sigil! Be careful with the defense one, you don’t want to kill your shield guys!


ROUND 8
I feel like the difficulty spike here drops tremendously from 5/6/7… I never have issues with this stage. If you’re a vampire chug those Double Bloody Maras! Make SURE TO INTERRUPT the fire guy when he starts channeling the spin flames! She’s really easily kited, so abuse that. Make sure to not stand near the edges of the arena, she does this stupid knockback ability!
Use the POWER SIGIL right before the third totem breaks!


ROUND 9
Geez, this round. Couple things here.
IF YOU CAN GET TO THE UPPER PHASE YOU CAN BEAT HIM!
Alot of people get discouraged here. The main thing about this boss fight is you NEED to find a way to deal with the crematorial guards. Those things suck! Preapply vigor, shields, whatever it takes. The DOT will not stop until he’s dead! Grab the healing sigil IMMEDIATELY if you ever have to drop down from the top bit. There will be a guard, and it’s a sure fire way to survive if you’re smart about it. If your DPS is good enough, you won’t have to deal with ANY at all!


Get the boss to 70, then take the portal up. Within seconds he will THROW A SKULL at you like the CoH2 guy. ROLL DODGE or BLOCK! Roll dodge is preferred cause he will also be sending dumb red AOES that stun you. Relax when killing the crystals and pay attention to his skull move! This bit takes some practice! When I first did this stage I had no idea about the rotating wall you could stand behind to avoid getting knocked off… You can stay up there for 2 walls, but if you can’t kill the third crystal by the third wall, JUMP DOWN and grab that healing sigil!


On the last stage, GRAB THAT HASTE SIGIL. MAKE SURE to interrupt his channel. Grabbing the gold ghosts is priority, so that you can have explosion when the first crematorial guard arrives. AFTER GETTING GHOSTS, MAKE SURE TO KILL THE SUMMONER. He will still be throwing the skull move and the channel, so pay attention to these two attacks and you will be fine. When the guard spawns, EXPLODE ALL OVER and stun that baddie! DPS him down, then return focus to the boss/summoners.


CONGRATS! YOU GOT A *** SHARPENED RESTORATION STAFF!
The second time you run this it will be so much easier, I promise! May RNjESUS BLESS YOU!


Author’s Note: If you have any questions FEEL FREE to send me an ingame mail @Rosethief, and I will do my best to help you out. As stated in the prerequisites, I believe ANYONE can finish this arena!

This guide took some time to make! I welcome any in-game gold donations! I will continue to update this guide with more tips, and do my best to respond to questions.


THANK YOU for reading my guide! Now get in there and get STORMPROOFED!